Thrifting Like a Pro
Why pay full price, when you can thrift almost anything? It all starts with shifting your mindset and asking, “Is there a place where this is thriftable?” And the answer is, 100% of the time, yes, according to Caitlin Ormsby, guest on the I’d Rather Be Thrifting episode of the I’d Rather Be podcast.
Once you know what you’re looking for, the key is knowing where to look. These six examples can help you get started.
Home Improvement and Renovation Supplies
Habitat for Humanity ReStores are huge retail spaces where contractors routinely donate extra supplies, including paint, building materials, doors and windows, plumbing supplies, and power tools. Caitlin’s family discovered 50 gallons of exterior house paint in a color they liked at the Habitat ReStore in Spokane, Washington, and they were able to get it at less than half of the price of paint at a store like Home Depot. ReStores are thrifting goldmines because so much of their inventory is brand new and left over from former projects, as opposed to secondhand. But, ReStores also sell lightly used furniture and appliances, so you can skip Lowe’s, Home Depot, and other hardware stores the next time you’re embarking on a home improvement project. Check out Habitat ReStore’s FAQs for more information.
Camping and Sports Equipment
Caitlin is a frequent hiker, and she found a pair of $100 carbon fiber hiking poles at an REI Garage Sale for $30. The Garage Sale is basically a thrift store within REI where you can find gently used REI items, from camping equipment to sports gear to clothing. While you have to pay a one-time membership of $20 to join REI’s co-op, the membership pays for itself in the form of annual dividends as a percentage back (usually 10%) on new items you purchased the prior year, as well as access to the Garage Sale, where you can buy lightly used items returned by other members, or return items you have purchased and receive an REI gift card in return. New gear can be expensive, but a lot of what you’ll find at the Garage Sale will feel brand new, given the high-quality brands carried by REI.
Art, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, High-Quality Furniture…
And anything you might need in your home! Ever been to an estate sale? Unlike a yard sale, an estate sale takes place in a private home and everything in the home is for sale. This includes everything from fine art to electronics to kitchenware. It’s an efficient and environmentally friendly way to offer these items to the public, and estate sales are most common after a death or an event that requires the owners of the home to downsize or move quickly.
EstateSales.net allows you to search both by zip code and by item, so you could browse local estate sales in person, or look for a category of item that you know you need. Estate sales are open to the public and are typically first-come, first-served, which means they are frequented by antique dealers and private collectors. So, if you see something you like online, you’ll want to be at the home as early as possible when the sale opens to the public.
Car Seats, Strollers, and other Baby Stuff
Babies and toddlers require a lot of very specific equipment, and many parents are happy to put their lightly used baby items back into the circular economy via platforms like OfferUp. Similar to Craigslist but more user-friendly, OfferUp is a peer-to-peer website and app that allows you to search for specific items or categories of items within a certain geographic radius. And baby stuff is just one of many categories on OfferUp — you can find pretty much anything on the platform.
Bulk items sold by the pound
It doesn’t get any closer to free than Goodwill Outlet, which Caitlin considers “the PhD of thrifting.” Regular Goodwill retail stores sell donated items that have been individually priced, but these items aren’t left on shelves forever. If they aren’t sold within a certain amount of time, they are sent to Goodwill Outlets, where the items are put in bins and usually sold by the pound.
Be warned: it can be intimidating to walk into a Goodwill Outlet. You’ll see rows and rows of bins being combed through by other thrifters. And you may expect other customers to have good etiquette, but Goodwill Outlets can be jungles where people will take items directly out of other customers’ carts. Pretty much anything goes. And while clothing is sorted into clothing bins, other miscellaneous items might not be sorted, so you’ll need patience and a clear focus to make the most of the experience.
Miscellaneous Free Items from Neighbors
In a circular economy utopia, nothing would end up in landfills and we’d all be able to give the things we don’t need to people who need them, while simultaneously finding things we need that our neighbors are willing to give away. There’s an app - and a movement - for that: the Buy Nothing Project. When Caitlin moved to her new neighborhood in San Diego, she used Buy Nothing to give away all her packing boxes, try coffee from a neighbor, and lend out a hair crimper someone needed for a party.
Buy Nothing users can both post the things they want to give away and request things they need, so it’s worth checking out the activity on the platform in your area to see if there is a way you can contribute or get involved. Caitlin says Buy Nothing is a great way to dip your toe into thrifting and see what kinds of things people are giving away, while also helping give things a second life, keep them out of the landfill, and do it all in a hyper-local way where you get to meet your neighbors.
The bottom line
Thrifting can be a thrilling search-and-find adventure in which you get to spend very little money, but it can also make you feel good because of the positive impact you’re having on the environment, your community, and the many nonprofit organizations that facilitate these exchanges. Listen to the full I’d Rather Be Thrifting episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your podcast platform of choice. Happy thrifting!
